David Slater (Spoddendale)'s photos with the keyword: Standerwick

Signs of a misspent youth? –Definitely not!! Four of my Ian Allan ABC books covering Ribble which never left home without me. The 1961 (orange) and 1962 editions were so care worn that they needed patching up.

I never joined the Ribble Enthusiasts Club. There was a minimum limit of 16 and by the time I reached that age I didn’t feel the need to join despite still being very interested in Ribble. I always thought it was a shame there wasn’t a junior group to fuel my enthusiasm for the information I believed I could never otherwise have access to (allocation lists and inside information etc). Nevertheless, I did purchase some of their publications much later.

Auty’s Tours Limited was acquired by Ribble in 1956 and operated as a separate subsidiary until 1960 when the tour programme became ‘Ribble Kingfisher Tours'. This is the cover of the Summer 1959 tour booklet. Note the words ‘Controlled by Ribble Motor Services Ltd’ beneath the Auty’s name.

Timetables for Ribble’s stage carriage services were published in four different area books. This is the set for the winter period 30 September 1957 to 27 June 1958 which featured a charming almost story book like front on sketch of a bus resembling a Burlingham bodied PD3/4 – a little more rounded than the real thing. Where a service operated between two different areas the service timetable appeared in the two relevant area books. For example, the Blackpool-Rochdale service 158 appeared in the area 2 book covering the Blackpool and Preston area (in table number 83) and in the area 3 book covering Blackburn and East Lancashire (in table 13). All four books featured the same timetable index which outlined the relevant table number in the relevant book(s) where a timetable could be found.

The Express and Limited Stop service timetables of Ribble were contained in their own timetable book quite separate from the four area timetable books covering stage carriage services. It was to be circa 1970 before the two types of service could be seen in the same publication. This collage shows five different examples of the former for the Summer periods of 1947, 1949, 1964, 1965 and 1971. The 1965 issue heralded the start of the larger format books with timetables quoted in the 24 hour clock format.

The Express and Limited Stop service timetables of Ribble were contained in separate books from stage carriage services. It was to be circa 1970 before the two types of service could be seen in the same publication. This photograph shows the covers for the Summer period editions for 1947 and 1949.

The Express and Limited Stop service timetables of Ribble were contained in separate books from stage carriage services. It was to be circa 1970 before the two types of service could be seen in the same publication. The cover of the Summer 1964 edition featured a drawing that included a 'Gay Hostess' double deck coach and a Burlingham Seagull single decker.

The Express and Limited Stop service timetables of Ribble were contained in their own timetable book quite separate from the four area timetable books covering stage carriage services. It was to be circa 1970 before the two types of service could be seen in the same publication. The 1965 issue (left) heralded the start of the larger format books with timetables quoted in the 24 hour clock format.

In the mid 1950s the ‘Fylde Coast Pool’ was created by Lancashire United Transport, North Western Road Car Company, Ribble Motor Services, W C Standerwick and Yelloway Motor Services. These timetable came from the files of Hubert Allen at Yelloway in the years prior to the formation of the pool when he closely monitored the services of his competitors. The literature became useful when the pool was being planned. In the centre is a leaflet of W C Standerwick showing the timetables for their Bacup-Blackpool and Bacup-Morecambe services, the former became part of the pool. Either side are leaflets produced by Ribble, that on the left for the Winter 1949-1950 X9 Oldham-Blackpool service operated jointly with North Western. On the right is the Summer 1954 Ribble Rochdale-Blackpool X89 service timetable. Both the X9 and X89 service kept those identities after becoming part of the pool, the latter also extended back to start at Oldham. The Yelloway Oldham-Rochdale-Bacup-Blackpool service joined the pool and was assigned service number X79 in the ‘X something 9’ series.

Two leaflets containing coach service timetables out of Manchester. That on the left, going south, is for the London services operated by Midland Red and North Western commencing 11 April 1949. This leaflet also features the name of Majestic Express Motors, a business acquired jointly by the two operating partners in 1933 and kept in being by them until 1953 registered at the North Western offices in Stockport. The leaflet on the right, going north, is for the services to Scotland operated jointly by Ribble, Western SMT (to Glasgow) and Scottish Omnibuses (to Edinburgh) commencing 1 March 1956.

R Prescott and Sons of Bamber Bridge, near Preston traded as Bamber Bridge Motor Service and operated a stage carriage service between Bamber Bridge and Preston together with excursions and tours. The business was taken over by Ribble in April 1967. It should be noted that in the trading title ‘Service’ is in the singular and not, as many often mis-quote, by using the plural.

Pennine Motor Services unfortunately ceased to be during May 2014. Some items from an earlier time include a letter and envelope with a timetable sheet sent to me in July 1966. Pennine and Ribble worked very closely for many years and the pink leaflet, in the Ribble style, dates from November 1969.

October 1973 – W C Standerwick Limited was a Ribble subsidiary that operated services to London from the Lake District and Lancashire. The second generation of double deck coaches employed on these services were Eastern Coachworks bodied Bristol VRLL models. 64 (OCK 64K) was seen taking a break at one of the motorway service areas in the Midlands (probably Corley) when London bound. It was new in September 1971.

Holt Brothers (Rochdale) Limited had commenced a service from the industrial towns in the Oldham, Rochdale and Rossendale areas to Blackpool in the 1920s. When Yelloway Motor Services Limited was created from the failed Holts business in April 1932 the services to Blackpool went from strength to strength and the services became a signifcant part of the Yelloway business. In the mid 1950s Yelloway entered pooling arrangements with Ribble, Standerwick, North Western and Lancashire United under the 'Fylde Coast Services' pool.

November 1971 - Yelloway Inspector John Howard checks the ticket of a passenger boarding Standerwick 941S (FCK 941F), a 1968 Plaxton Panorama bodied Leyland Leopard, on the ‘Blackpool stand’ at Weir Street. The coach was working the 1900 X79 service from Oldham to Blackpool which called at Rochdale at 1930. During the summer timetable Yelloway operated most, if not all, of the six or so departures on the X79/X89 services. However, during the winter months Standerwick and Yelloway provided one coach each to cover the three services each way. This resulted in a Yelloway coach spending the night in Blackpool on alternate nights and the Standerwick coach returning to the Yelloway garage at Rochdale after its arrival in Oldham. The drivers did not however stay out overnight but exchanged coaches in the Blackburn area on the last trip at around 2037-2045. So this coach would have been overnight at Rochdale last night and been in the hands of Yelloway drivers all day today until being handed over to a Standerwick driver at Blackburn on this trip.

Summer 1965 or 1966 – A Burlingham Seagull bodied Leyland Tiger Cub of W C Standerwick Ltd had just left the Yelloway coach station as it set out for Blackpool on the X79 service. It was paused at the end of Penn Street (later Ink Street) ready to turn into Smith Street. The buildings were subsequently demolished to provide more space for coach parking. Whilst a rather poor and now scratchy snapshot from my schooldays it appears that the coach is registered NFR 957 and if so was number 9 in the Standerwick fleet.

Monday 8 May 1972 – It was rare indeed for a Ribble vehicle to be seen on a service working of the X79 route, the X79 was routinely covered by Yelloway and Standerwick. Ribble 767 (TRN 767), a 1964 Leyland Leopard with Marshall dual purpose bodywork, was operating what was normally a Standerwick working. It was seen on the ‘Blackpool stand’ at Weir Street, Rochdale when working the 1315 Oldham-Blackpool X79 service due through Rochdale at 1345.

Monday 8 May 1972 – It was rare indeed for a Ribble vehicle to be seen on a service working of the X79 route, the X79 was routinely covered by Yelloway and Standerwick. Ribble 767 (TRN 767), a 1964 Leyland Leopard with Marshall dual purpose bodywork, was operating what was normally a Standerwick working. It was seen on the ‘Blackpool stand’ at Weir Street, Rochdale when working the 1315 Oldham-Blackpool X79 service due through Rochdale at 1345.